Equal-to-the-Apostles · 1797–1879
Innocent of Alaska
Saint Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, Enlightener of the Aleuts, Apostle to the Americas
New Calendar March 31 Old Calendar April 13
Why they are a saint
Innocent of Alaska was missionary priest and later bishop in Alaska; translated Scripture and services into Aleut and other languages; later Metropolitan of Moscow. The years given for this life are 1797–1879. The Church gives the title Equal-to-the-Apostles to those whose labor resembled the first mission.
Life
Saint Innocent (Veniaminov), born John Popov on August 26, 1797, in the village of Anginsk in the Irkutsk diocese, received the surname Veniaminov at seminary. He was ordained deacon in 1817 and priest in 1821.
From 1823 he preached in the Aleutian Islands, and from 1834 at Sitka among the Tlingit. He composed an alphabet and grammar for the Aleut language, translated the Catechism, the Gospel and many prayers into it, and in 1833 wrote the Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven, which appeared in more than forty editions. His work in geography, ethnography and linguistics won worldwide acclaim.
After the death of his wife he was tonsured a monk with the name Innocent in 1840 and became a bishop, later labouring in Kamchatka, Yakutsk, and the Amur region; the Yakut people first heard the services in their own language through his efforts. From 1868 he was Metropolitan of Moscow. He fell asleep in the Lord on March 31, 1879, Holy Saturday, and was buried at the Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra. He was glorified on October 6, 1977.
Sources: OCA Lives of the Saints · OCA Lives of the Saints. Retold in our own words.
Traditional patronage
Honoured as Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to America. The cited sources name no other patronage.
Patronage / why chosen as patron
Patron of Alaska, missionaries, translators (when of Alaska / Moscow), because he is linked to that land by his life and labours.
Prayer
O holy Innocent of Alaska, pray to God for us.
A short general prayer to a saint, not a liturgical text. No public-domain troparion for this saint is included.
Do not confuse with Innocent of Irkutsk; Innocent of Komel.